Dynamics of growth zone patterning in the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus
Auman T, Vreede BMI, Weiss A and others. Development (Cambridge, England), April 2017.
Read the paper Free to read · doi:10.1242/dev.142091
What this paper is about
A detailed account of how the large milkweed bug adds its abdominal segments one at a time: measurements of the growing embryo, where cells divide, and the expression of marker genes through the process.
It establishes what the growth zone does, which is the part fruit fly development skips.
Summarised here from the abstract below. Not the authors’ words.
Abstract
We describe the dynamic process of abdominal segment generation in the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus We present detailed morphological measurements of the growing germband throughout segmentation. Our data are complemented by cell division profiles and expression patterns of key genes, including invected and even-skipped as markers for different stages of segment formation. We describe morphological and mechanistic changes in the growth zone and in nascent segments during the generation of individual segments and throughout segmentation, and examine the relative contribution of newly formed versus existing tissue to segment formation. Although abdominal segment addition is primarily generated through the rearrangement of a pool of undifferentiated cells, there is nonetheless proliferation in the posterior. By correlating proliferation with gene expression in the growth zone, we propose a model for growth zone dynamics during segmentation in which the growth zone is functionally subdivided into two distinct regions: a posterior region devoted to a slow rate of growth among undifferentiated cells, and an anterior region in which segmental differentiation is initiated and proliferation inhibited.
Abstract reproduced from the published paper, which is licensed CC BY. Copyright remains with the authors.
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"Dynamics of growth zone patterning in the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus (listing)." Milkweed USA, 2026, https://milkweedusa.com/research/dynamics-of-growth-zone-patterning-in-the-milkweed-bug-2017/. Accessed DATE.
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title = {Dynamics of growth zone patterning in the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus (listing)},
author = {{Milkweed USA}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://milkweedusa.com/research/dynamics-of-growth-zone-patterning-in-the-milkweed-bug-2017/},
note = {Accessed DATE}
}